Chapter 18

Hi! Skipp Ryan is forcing me to type and post this chapter...NOW. Apparently, she is very worried about Fang. Oh well.

Enjoy!

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We crouched behind the bushes outside the perimeter of the Itex building. I thought it looked total Adam's family. And the worst part. Flyboy's. Everywhere. They literally were swarming the place. I could have swam to the building! A weird humming was coming from them. It was probably their latest catch phrase that was constantly reprogrammed.

"What are they saying?", asked Angel, squinting through the see of robots.

"Their saying 'Annihilate, Annihilate the flock, Annihilate project Maximum. She will come, we will catch, then she shall depart forever. Annihilate.' Creepy," reported Iggy. His bird hearing was better than ours.

"Well. I guess that means no welcome-home party for us. What a drag, dude!" I said sarcastically. Nudge giggled.

"How are we going to get in?" Gazzy asked. "The minute we show our faces, we're dead!"

I looked around for a solution. A van was stopped at the gates. The man in it was doing something in the back. I motioned towards him and they nodded.

We jumped him from behind, then dragged him into a tree. I took his clothes and gave them to Gazzy. He pulled them on, grimacing when I handed him the white lab coat.

"I am NOT putting that on!" he exclaimed.

"You have to, or they will figure it out! We won't even get through the door!" I said firmly. Gazzy frowned, then put on the coat. Nudge went around back and opened the doors. I heard her gasp.

"M-Max? Come here. I-I think you might want to see this," she whimpered. Running to the back, I felt anger flare in my veins the moment I laid eyes on the scene. Inside the large hull of the van, were several hybrid's, all chained down. All looking half dead. Some of them were dead. I saw a little boy with gills and fins for hands and feet. His skin was blue; a sure sign that he was dead. Another boy with reptilian skin was lying dead, beside the fish boy. There were several cat hybrids, all with some sort of injury. Then I saw her. A girl, probably ten years old, with jet black wings. An avian hybrid. Like us. She stared at us, with her eyes wide.

"Time for you all to have a life. We're setting you free!" I whispered gently to them. Some of them nodded, others just stared, and then again, others turned away. The girl with wings moved forward, holding out her shackled hands. I turned back to Gazzy.

"Is there a key in those pockets?" I asked, hoping. Gazzy fished around for a moment, then produced a key. I took it and unlocked the girl's chains. She hopped down and kept staring, not making a break for it.

"Go! Run away from here!" I hissed at her. More staring.

"A-Are you Maximum? And the f-flock?" the girl suddenly stuttered. I nodded.

"They have been waiting for you. Those people. They have one of your own. You can't go in there. Their going to kill you," she said.

"It's a chance I'm willing to take to save my friend. Now go!" I said to her, unlocking the chains on the rest of the hybrids. She shook her head.

"Your hope. I can't let you die. I will help you, since I know where he is," the girl said. My sixth sense *the wtf-who-is-this-girl-, is-this-a-trap sense* kicked in immediately. I looked at Angel, knowing that she would be using her mind reading skills.

"She's clean. She seriously will help us," said Angel. Then, turning to the girl, she asked, "What is you name?"

The girl hesitated, then quietly said, "Summer. My name is Summer."

"Why were you all chained up in the van?" asked Nudge, not releasing the building from her gaze. She was the look-out, in case the Flyboy's got suspicious.

"They were doing the survival test. They release us into the wild for a day, where we have to try and escape. And survive. Those two boys you saw were....liabilities. They were not survivors......the tiger twins killed the lizard hybrid, and.....I.....I.....well, I did something too. After a days time, they come track us down and chain us to the van. That way, we don't escape. And there is no escape. I know...I've tried," Summer murmured. Tears were in her eyes, deep blue eyes.

"They were taking us back today. Back to the cages...and the pain."

"Can you tell Gasman where to drive?" I asked her gently. Summer nodded and walked over to give Gazzy directions.

I motioned for flock to gather around me. They all were pumped, ready to kick some butt. And get Fang back.

"Here's the plan. Gazzy will drive us to where they unload the hybrids. When they open the doors, we surprise them, kick their butts, then find a ventilation duct. Summer will lead us through the air vents to the room where their keeping Fang. We bust in there, free Fang, blow up some crap, beat up some Flyboys, bust out of there. Short, sweet, and to the point," I announced. They all nodded, including Summer.

We loaded into the back of the van, and Gazzy got in the driver's seat. Shutting the door behind us, I sat down and looked around. Bare white walls, with bars running down the sides. The chains were attached to the bars. And a tv screen mounted on the wall. It was on. There was a man on the screen, talking in Spanish. Suddenly, he switched to English.

"You are part of the Perfect-Production Plan. If you survive these rigorous tests and exams, then you will excel in our plan. But if you fail, this is what could happen," the man said monotonously.

The tv showed a tank full of eerie green liquid. Inside the tank was Fang. He had a mask over his mouth and nose, and a tube was attached to the mask. It was like something off Star Trek, or something that came from a hospital. I guessed that it let him breathe while floating in the tank. The tube ran out of the tank, and into a thing that looked like a generator.

My mouth was hanging open, and grief overwhelmed my heart. Angel and Nudge had tears running down their faces. Iggy was turning his head, trying to hear what was happening.

"W-We know what happened to Fang," I whispered to him. His blind gaze turned toward the tv. Slowly, I described the scene to him. His face paled, until I thought he would pass out.

The man came back on the screen. Up until then, I hadn't really payed attention to his voice. But now, I was almost jolted out of grief by what I heard.

"Svo, ivf you kno', vhats in your best intarest, you vill cooperate fully. You hav' veen wahrned," ter Borcht finished. He had returned. The idiot had returned. Oh, how stupid that was on his part. I'm going to mock him till he cry's, then rip his throat out.

Every one was shocked except Summer. She stared dully at the screen, as if it was a daily routine. Which it probably was. Gripping Iggy's shoulder hard, I felt the van begin to move.

And here we go....

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Sorry for the short chapter. But I had to split up this chapter into 2, or it would have been excruciatingly long. And personally, I don't like excruciatingly long chapters.

That was just the beginning. I will start working on the next chapter IMMEDIATELY.

Although, I will need a bit of persuasion to post it soon...maybe, reviews? Yes, let's go with reviews.

REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please.

And good bye!